Revealed: The ten countries drinking two thirds of the world's wine

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 28 April, 2016

Italy, France and Spain continue to dominate in terms of production, but who is drinking the most wine?

There are some surprises on the list of the world's biggest wine-drinkers released from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), which shows that the USA is leading the pack.

In 2015, the USA drunk 4.1 billion bottles (31 million hectolitres).

For the next three biggest wine drinking nations, the list turns to Europe.

3.6 billion was consumed in France (27.2 mhl), while Italy and Germany came in joint fourth place with 2.7 billion bottles (20.5 mhl) consumed.

Just behind them was China, with 2.1 billion.

The figure cements China as the new star of the world wine map.

According to OVI figures, China is now the country with the second largest vineyard area as well as fifth in terms of wine consumption.

The united Kingdom came in seventh with 1.7 billion bottles drunk; Argentina was eighth at 1.4, Spain 1.3, Russia 1.2 and Australia 0.72.

The figures show that the top ten wine drinking nations are quaffing around two thirds of the world's wine.

World wine consumption reached 240 million hectolitres in 2015, the equivalent of 32 billion 75cl bottles.

According to the report, Spain is the country with the largest cultivated vineyard area, followed by China.

In terms of production, global wine production (excluding juice & must) reached 274.4 mhl in 2015, a growth of 5.8 mhl compared to 2014.

Italy was the biggest producer in the world (49.5 mhl), followed by France (47.5 mhl) and Spain (37.2 mhl).

The United States recorded a high level of production (22.1 mhl) for the third year running.

In the Southern Hemisphere, production (excluding juice & must) declined in Argentina (13.4 mhl), increased in Chile (12.9 mhl) and remained stable in Australia (11.9 mhl).

Production fell slightly both in South Africa (11.2 mhl) and in China (11 mhl).

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